Additional drivers: a quick guide
Adding other people to your car insurance policy can either push up the premium or reduce it: our guide will help you make the right choice.
If you want someone else to be insured to drive your car, you need to add them as additional named drivers on your insurance policy.
Generally speaking, the more named drivers you add, the more expensive your insurance is likely to become. But this isn't always true: if your named driver is considered a lower risk than you, your premium could even go down.
Parents and children
As a parent, if you add a young son or daughter as an additional driver, the chances are your premium will increase - probably dramatically.
This is because less experienced drivers tend to have more accidents - and the average insurance claim of a young driver is more than 3 times that of other drivers.
If you're a young driver, though, adding a parent on to your insurance policy could actually bring your premium down - if an older driver is sometimes at the wheel the insurer's overall risk will be lower.
Letting a friend drive
You can include virtually anyone as an additional driver - it doesn't have to be a family member or partner. Obviously people banned from driving can't be added, and some insurers may have age restrictions.
Comprehensive cover will often include cover for anyone to drive your car with your permission, even if they're not a named driver - but this will normally only be third party cover.
Key points
- The cost of adding other drivers depends on their level of risk - adding a young driver will probably push up your premium, but experienced drivers may reduce it
- If you have comprehensive insurance, other people may already have third party cover when they drive your car with your permission
- Limit the time frame - you could pay less if you restrict additional drivers to school holidays, for example
- Build up no-claims - some insurers allow additional named drivers to build up their own no-claims discount so that when they come to take out their own insurance, they have already built up an entitlement
- Add Mum or Dad to your policy - if you're a young driver, adding your Mum or Dad as an additional driver may reduce your insurance premium
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